Albert Gaspard Grimod

Who was Albert Gaspard Grimod?

Jean-François-Louis-Marie-Albert Grimod, comte d'Orsay, was a Bonapartist general and nobleman. He was the son of the collector Pierre Gaspard, comte d'Orsay and his first wife, Princess Marie Louise Amélie de Croÿ-Molembais, daughter of Prince Guillaume François de Croÿ and Anne Françoise Amélie de Trazegnies. She died in giving birth to him and his father began travelling Europe for consolation, gathering famous paintings and sculptures into a notable collection.

He married again, to Princess Marie Anne of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein, on 22 August 1784. The couple moved to Germany in 1787, meaning that - on the outbreak of the French Revolution two years later - Albert's father was declared an émigré and their property in France was seized. They were left in the poverty in which Albert's father died.

In 1792 Albert married Eleanore, Baroness de Franquemont, an illegitimate daughter of the reigning Duke of Württemberg by the Italian adventuress Anne Franchi. Their surviving son became the dandy, Alfred Guillaume Gabriel, Count D'Orsay.